A review by lgski
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious fast-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

My children will read this! I genuinely loved this novel so much. The golden compass brought me back to the feeling I used to get when I read as a child. It is full of mystery, magic, and adventure. The point of view is a third-person omniscient narrator. This novel is very well developed and the characters, from the main character to side characters, are fleshed out.  I categorize this book in the fantasy genre for children/young adults because of the setting taking place in an alternate London, magic, mythical creatures, and supernatural phenomena that are revealed within these pages. There are witches of the north, armored polar bears, daemons, and a mysterious thing called dust. This book explores religion and souls. I feel like every person in the novel was needed to make the story happen. The writing style of this novel is easy enough for a child to read yet complicated enough for an adult to analyze the story and its themes. The story is filled with complexity and deeper meanings that can be pulled from every page. The main themes that are seen within this story are childhood, innocence, and maturing. Pullman is fantastic at using a child's vocabulary to express deep meanings and complex ideas/teachings, for example, what the daemons are to each character, what the dust represents, and why certain events in the story take place. He expects the reader to make comparisons to their lives and the real world. Pullman uses religion as the political system within this story. There are some content warnings, such as child abuse, child death, and gore. I listened to the audiobook, which was full-cast, and felt like a movie playing in my head. I recommend this to anyone and everyone who is open-minded. I think that anyone that is looking to get lost in a story, will enjoy this book.




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